I wish TLD did get better and better. The quality of the first hour cannot be sustained and the scenes especially in Afghanistan pale by comparison. I still really like TLD but if the second half matched the quality of the first it would be top 3 instead of top 10 for me. Oh and Dalton is excellent {:)
My problems with TLD really stem from Tim's weak performance, Koskov and Whittaker being poor villains that have no menace or panache. Kara is hit and miss for me. Her characterization is all over the place. She's so easily manipulated by everyone that it's like she doesn't have a mind of her own. Caroline Bliss as Moneypenny is awful. John Terry was miscast as Felix and that scene where Bond get's tricked by his two girls with the sleezy sax music was also bad. The humor didn't work for me. And for me TLD's biggest flaw is that silly Cello case sled down the mountain scene after an awesome car chase. It's not all bad though. John Rhys Davies gives and excellent performance in the film. He's my favorite thing about TLD. John Barry delivers a nice final score for the franchise and The previously mentioned car chase is great. I also enjoy the PTS. One of the best. It's a mixed bag for me ultimately where the bad outweighs the good.
"No for me."
"You forgot the first rule of Mass Media Elliot! Give the people what they want!!!"
"I never miss..."
"Time to face gravity!"
Just seen TLD for the first time in years. I used to think it was dull, but I really liked it this time. The plot is not the most straight forward and i used to be confused by it, but I get it now (having googled it!).
An interesting thing about the film is how there are several set ups (Kara thinking Koskov is good; he believing she is dead - and, later, that Pushkin is too; Saunders' initial dislike of Bond, Bond's skeptism upon hearing Koskov's claims) and every one of them are resolved. It's one of those tricky stories were you have to keep in mind what each character knows and doesn't know. Cool, also, that the ticking bomb was started by Bond himself after years in which the bad guy did it. As such, the plane sequence shows Bond abandoning his plan to blow up the opium and deciding to fly away with it instead, thereby using his witx and rolling with the punches.
Koskov, I think, was a very different villian. He's a weasel: manipulative, duplicitious, shallow, calculating, greedy and deadly. I can't help but like the rascal, particularly when he meets Pushkin at the end and has to think on his feet.
This is the first Bond film I saw in the cinema. I adore Dalton's performance in this film. He has some great moments. In the sequence just after Saunders is killed look at the subtle shifts of emotions he communicates in less than a minute of screen time. From his lines 'bad accident back there' he tries to protect Kara from the truth, then he's suspicious of Kara when she says she knows Whittaker, then he's slightly hurt when Kara mentions Koskov and then venomous when she asks if he heard from him..."yes, I got the message." Brilliant work and it's little things that Dalton brings to the performance that make it so rewarding rewatching his Bond films.
Living daylights is very far up there for me. In the top 5 surely. Dalton is great in it, the plot, the music, the last bond flick with that feel they had since dr no.
I liked that some of the humour was character-driven, like Kara insisting they go back for the cello, Moneypenny's skee-whiff specs, Bond changing the wine from the one on the shopping list and - perhaps most subtly - near the end, in Afghanistan, when Bond creeps around a corner and Kara is, for a moment, too distracted to follow him. Such stealth is obviously new to her.
While the PTS of TLD is very good I've never liked the bit where bond is running after the SMERSH assassin and a SAS trooper shoots Bond with paintball. The trooper tries to block 007 and Bond just nudeges into him more like a very busy and bully trying to get Ahead in the que in the sales in a mall than two of Britain's most elite fighters. They should have Bond perform a cool martial arts move on the surprised SAS trooper. The trooper gets up, ready to defend himself when Bond shouts to him: "The exersise is terminated - this is for real!"
It would be cooler than what we got, but also a mission statement for Dalton's New Bond.
I rewatched it this weekend, and while a few of the comedy elements really do stick out (mainly in the beginning) and Felix Leiter is perhaps needlessly shoehorned in, and Brad Whitaker might've been better off recast (I never liked Joe Don Baker in any of his Bond appearences), I think it still works, thoroughly enjoyable, the score is a great adieu to John Barry and Dalton is just brilliant. Loved it always.
It's never going to be my number one, but I agree TLD has aged much better than many of the eighties OO7s.
This is mostly because Timothy Dalton's performance, given time and understanding, is better appreciated now than it was in 1987. His is one of the very best performances by an actor as James Bond. I like that he's serious, yet still able to pass off the Moore-esque humour which occasionally pervades. There are a couple of missteps, but that isn't Dalton's fault, more the screenwriters. His character is multi-textured. The scenes in Austria are excellent and Dalton has a real romantic spark with Maryam D'Abo's ingenue agent. You can't tell if Bond's really falling in love or if he's merely acting the part. Dalton is great too in his early scenes, all action in the PTS, dismissive of his superiors, suspicious of Koskov, reluctant to pull the trigger on his friend Pushkin. I reckon Daniel Craig watched this film a lot to perfect some of the nuances in his own portrayal.
TLD is also very Cold War, probably the most realistic Bond ever got, especially that foray to Afghanistan, where the audience [and Bond] witness the chaos of a genuine, bloody war.
I've said it before but Dalton got out without making a bad Bond film. So did Lazenby but he only made one. I've always enjoyed The Living Daylights from day one. It's still in my top 10 Bond films. Only not really top 5 because of Connery's run which probably will never be topped. I debate switching The Living Daylights with You Only Live Twice in the top 5. But you really can't go wrong with Connery's first 5 Bond films.
It most certainly does, as The Living Daylights is one of my favourite Bond films with some of the best Bond moments and real acting.
The good bits are great, but in retrospect i think the flaws are clear. At the time i think we were all so relieved to see a Bond that could stand up in a strong wind we got carried away.
Dalton is superb, weak femake lead, poor villain, and too many Moore era legacies. Its no FRWL but then again what is.
Of that of which we cannot speak we must pass over in silence- Ludwig Wittgenstein.
I think the one thing that would have the most impact in making the film even better is making Whitaker more of a threat. Cast a younger, stronger man and write the part more scary.
Comments
"You forgot the first rule of Mass Media Elliot! Give the people what they want!!!"
"I never miss..."
"Time to face gravity!"
#1.TLD/LTK 2.TND 3.GF 4.GE 5.DN 6.FYEO 7.FRWL 8.TMWTGG 9.TWINE 10.YOLT/QOS
Daylights is a favorite of mine as well. Watched the Blu recently and it's a Bond that always remains in my top 10.
No, your tastes differ from mine. That's all. Though our tastes are pretty similar. {[]
"You forgot the first rule of Mass Media Elliot! Give the people what they want!!!"
"I never miss..."
"Time to face gravity!"
Oh yes!
Dalton - the weak and weepy Bond!
you're black; I'm mad!
#1.TLD/LTK 2.TND 3.GF 4.GE 5.DN 6.FYEO 7.FRWL 8.TMWTGG 9.TWINE 10.YOLT/QOS
#1.TLD/LTK 2.TND 3.GF 4.GE 5.DN 6.FYEO 7.FRWL 8.TMWTGG 9.TWINE 10.YOLT/QOS
An interesting thing about the film is how there are several set ups (Kara thinking Koskov is good; he believing she is dead - and, later, that Pushkin is too; Saunders' initial dislike of Bond, Bond's skeptism upon hearing Koskov's claims) and every one of them are resolved. It's one of those tricky stories were you have to keep in mind what each character knows and doesn't know. Cool, also, that the ticking bomb was started by Bond himself after years in which the bad guy did it. As such, the plane sequence shows Bond abandoning his plan to blow up the opium and deciding to fly away with it instead, thereby using his witx and rolling with the punches.
Koskov, I think, was a very different villian. He's a weasel: manipulative, duplicitious, shallow, calculating, greedy and deadly. I can't help but like the rascal, particularly when he meets Pushkin at the end and has to think on his feet.
It would be cooler than what we got, but also a mission statement for Dalton's New Bond.
#1.TLD/LTK 2.TND 3.GF 4.GE 5.DN 6.FYEO 7.FRWL 8.TMWTGG 9.TWINE 10.YOLT/QOS
1. Dalton 2. Moore 3. Connery 4. Lazenby 5. Craig 6. Brosnan
This is mostly because Timothy Dalton's performance, given time and understanding, is better appreciated now than it was in 1987. His is one of the very best performances by an actor as James Bond. I like that he's serious, yet still able to pass off the Moore-esque humour which occasionally pervades. There are a couple of missteps, but that isn't Dalton's fault, more the screenwriters. His character is multi-textured. The scenes in Austria are excellent and Dalton has a real romantic spark with Maryam D'Abo's ingenue agent. You can't tell if Bond's really falling in love or if he's merely acting the part. Dalton is great too in his early scenes, all action in the PTS, dismissive of his superiors, suspicious of Koskov, reluctant to pull the trigger on his friend Pushkin. I reckon Daniel Craig watched this film a lot to perfect some of the nuances in his own portrayal.
TLD is also very Cold War, probably the most realistic Bond ever got, especially that foray to Afghanistan, where the audience [and Bond] witness the chaos of a genuine, bloody war.
I assume it's just after Bond arrives at Bladen safe house. I doubt it's an extra scene removed from the film.
And LTK was the smellier one
Dalton - the weak and weepy Bond!
He could have done with working out a bit more.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
We have an old saying, too, Higgybum.
And you're full of it! :007)
I am sure that you‘d be very appreciative if such a line would be coming your way
Dalton - the weak and weepy Bond!
All in jest. You'll get me back I've no doubt :007)
1. Dalton 2. Moore 3. Connery 4. Lazenby 5. Craig 6. Brosnan
The good bits are great, but in retrospect i think the flaws are clear. At the time i think we were all so relieved to see a Bond that could stand up in a strong wind we got carried away.
Dalton is superb, weak femake lead, poor villain, and too many Moore era legacies. Its no FRWL but then again what is.